Featured Image Credit: Netflix
Topics: Netflix, Documentaries, TV and Film
Anish Vij
Netflix's docuseries American Nightmare has gripped viewers as it looks into the case of the 'real-life Gone Girl'.
Detective Mat Mustard of the Vallejo Police Department played an integral role in the abduction case of Denise Huskins back in 2015.
Denise was kidnapped from her California home by an intruder who demanded a $17,000 ransom for her return.
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Her boyfriend and home co-owner Aaron Quinn was also there when the incident took place.
After 48-hours she was released and was found 400 miles away near Huntington Beach.
However, the issue came when police misinterpreted the couple's version of events.
Take a look at the eerie trailer below:
Netflix's three-part docuseries shares similarities to Gillian Flynn’s novel Gone Girl and the film of the same name.
Huskins and Quinn were accused of coordinating an elaborate kidnapping hoax by Vallejo Police Department and, in a press conference, the force accused the couple of ‘plundering valuable resources’ and taking 'focus away from the true victims of our community while instilling fear among our community members'.
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However, the couple were eventually vindicated after an attempted kidnapping in Dublin, California was found to have several similarities to Huskins’ case.
An ex-marine named Matthew Muller was arrested for the Dublin kidnapping attempt after he left his phone at the scene.
Mathew 'Mat' Mustard - who was the lead detective - had falsely accused Quinn of being involved.
Under his guidance, the Vallejo Police Department made the boyfriend take a lie detector test as he was questioned for 18 hours.
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Although the force allegedly told Quinn that he failed the test, he claims he had been misled by the authorities.
After the couple took legal action against the Vallejo Police Department in 2016, the case was eventually settled out of court in 2018.
The couple were compensated with $2.5 million.
They got engaged in 2017 and went on to tie the knot a year later, welcoming two children together.
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In terms of Mustard's career, he was the president of the Vallejo Police Officers Association from 2009 to 2019.
And then in 2018, it is believed that he was promoted to a sergeant.
He is now reportedly a detective sergeant for the Vallejo Police Department in the San Francisco Bay Area of California.
"You can go through any kind of trauma to where it leaves you devastated and in a place where you just think, 'This is impossible to move forward from. What do I do next?" Huskins previously told ABC News.
"I think ours is an example of that. There is hope. It might take time and it might be a lot of hard work, but there is hope."
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LADbible has contacted the Vallejo Police Department for comment.